This invention relates in general to methods and apparatuses for the remediation of contaminated soil and animal manure. In particular, this invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for extracting contaminants from contaminated soil and from animal manure.
It is widely recognized that industrial production throughout the years has produced numerous environmentally hazardous sites throughout the country and the world that can pose substantial health hazards to the population. In recent years, efforts to clean up or remediate environmentally contaminated sites have increased dramatically. Many methods and apparatuses have been devised for cleaning up or disposing of environmental contamination in water, air, and soil. However, the magnitude of the environmental contamination is enormous in comparison to the resources made available to solve this problem.
To address the problem of contamination from industrial production, and particularly soil contamination, a variety of soil treatment and decontamination techniques have been developed. These techniques involve, but are not limited to, the application of fluids, biological agents, heat, vacuum, pressurized gases, and mechanical agitation. In order to remediate contaminated soil, it is often necessary to apply several different treatment techniques, either individually or in a certain combination and order, that is usually determined by the particular contaminant or contaminants under remediation. Many environmental companies continue to use the conventional methods of “treating” contaminated soil by either off site disposal to landfills or incinerators or displacing it for treatment or mobile injection treatment units. Most technologies were designed for a specific contaminant for a specific site and, therefore, have limited value and associated extensive limitations. Thus, it would be desirable to provide an improved method and apparatus for extracting industrial production contaminants from soil.
In addition to the contaminated soil that has been generated by industrial production, the modem practices of animal husbandry has been found to generate waste products that also require remediation. In many instances, modem animal husbandry involves the establishment and operation of relatively large concentrated animal feeding facilities. The disposition of animal manure from such relatively large concentrated animal feeding facilities has been found to be problematic because of the vast amounts of animal manure that is generated. In many instances, such animal manure is collected in large waste lagoons that are annoying at best and can pose substantial health hazards to the population at worst. Thus, it would be desirable to provide an improved method and apparatus for extracting contaminants from such animal manure for safe disposition.